Lead Stewards are the backbone of Toronto Nature Stewards, responsible for organization at each of our sites. This includes all aspects of site management: recruiting new Stewards, planning and leading stewardship sessions, and recording stewarding activity. Each of our sites is run by one or more Lead Stewards who ensure that work can get done. Lead Stewards have a lot of flexibility in how they run their stewardship sessions and recruit volunteer Stewards.
Lead Stewards are trained over a set of five 2-hour online training sessions and hands-on learning opportunities from January through March that provide guidance on making a stewardship plan for their site, recruiting new Stewards, organizing events, and invasive plant identification.
Capacity is limited, so please sign up quickly. If you know of anyone who may be interested please send them a link to this page. We recommend that Lead Stewards volunteer as a Steward for a season prior to applying for Lead Steward training. You can sign up to volunteer as a Steward here.
Check out this testimonial for first-hand experience: “My Experience as a First-year Lead Steward”
What are Lead Stewards responsible for?
- Making a stewardship plan for their site
- Recruiting and leading a team of volunteer Stewards (maximum 10 per Lead Steward)
- Organizing work days by planning activities, sending emails, adhering to protocols
- Uploading activities, number of attendees, monitoring
- Committing approximately 3 hours/week (2 hours in the field + 1/2 hour administration) end of April through October. (Co-Lead Stewards can help manage the site during vacations).
What makes a good Lead Steward?
- Strong organizational skills
- Effectiveness leading, coordinating, and working with a team of people
- Familiarity with email, excel, and Google Drive/docs
- Knowledge of invasive and native plant identification or the commitment to learn
- Previous stewarding experience or equivalent experience is strongly recommended